Wednesday, May 9, 2012

PARIS,
France, May 9, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A prosecutor in
the eastern city of Cankuzo yesterday requested life imprisonment for
journalist Hassan Ruvakuki and 22 other people who are charged with
“participating in acts of terrorism” by a new rebel group operating in
the east of the country.

A
reporter for Bonesha FM and the Swahili service of Radio France
Internationale, Ruvakuki has been held since 28 November, after
interviewing an alleged member of the rebel group, which is reportedly
based in neighbouring Tanzania.

During
yesterday’s hearing in Cankuzo, lawyers representing 14 of the
defendants, including Ruvakuki, refused to enter pleas, reiterating
their position that the trial violates procedural rules and the most
basic defence rights. The other nine defendants pleaded not guilty.
Despite these flagrant irregularities, the court said it would proceed
with the trial and adjourned until 20 June.

“It has
already been demonstrated that this court is neither competent nor
impartial, so the request for life sentences is just further evidence
that the trial is a travesty orchestrated by the government,” Reporters
Without Borders said. “After more than five months in detention and the
occasional grotesque hearing, Ruvakuki’s hopes of an impartial and
independent hearing have been dashed. The reputation of Burundi’s
justice system is at stake. It needs to ignore the political directives
and hold a proper trial.

“Despite
protests from the defence lawyers, Ruvakuki’s employers, NGOs and
bodies such as the Paris Bar Association, the Burundian authorities
continue to turn a deaf ear to all the calls for a fair trial. If
necessary, the legal battle will taken to the African Court on Human and
Peoples’ Rights.”

An
appeal court in the central city of Gitega on 28 February rejected a
defence petition challenging the impartiality of the judges in Cankuzo
and calling for the trial to be transferred to a different city. This
decision was never notified to the defendants, as the defence lawyers
pointed out during yesterday’s hearing.

In a
letter to justice minister Pascal Barandaqiye on 27 March (linked
article in French:
http://en.rsf.org/burundi-prosecutor-requests-life-09-05-2012,42587.html),
the deputy president of the Paris Bar Association condemned the
“serious violation of defence rights” and called for “urgent measures to
be taken so that Hassan Ruvakuki can be guaranteed the right to a fair
trial before an independent and impartial court.”

The
failure to notify the defendants about the appeal court’s decision was
publicly condemned by the defence lawyers on 17 April. Ruvakuki’s
lawyer, Onésime Kabayabaya, said: “As long as the situation is not
resolved, there will be no progress.” The supreme court’s spokesman told
him the case was not urgent and would take the normal course.

NEW
YORK, May 9, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Sudanese
security services must immediately release journalist Faisal Mohamed
Saleh, who was arrested at his home today after facing two weeks of
harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested Saleh, a
columnist who contributes to several independent and opposition
publications, from his home in Khartoum and took him to an unknown
location, according to news reports and Faisal al-Baqri, the general
coordinator of the group Journalists for Human Rights in Sudan, who
spoke to CPJ. The NISS has not disclosed Saleh’s health, condition, or
whereabouts and has denied him access to his family or a lawyer,
al-Baqri said.

Saleh
has been a frequent critic of the government’s human rights and press
freedom record, according to news reports. On April 25, the NISS
summoned Saleh for questioning after he made critical comments in an
Al-Jazeera interview in regard to President Omar al-Bashir, according to
a letter the journalist wrote that was published by the news website
Sudanese Online on Monday. The NISS also warned Saleh to be cautious
when speaking to the foreign media, the letter said.

“The
Sudanese security forces appear to have targeted Faisal Mohamed Saleh
because of his critical journalism,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s
Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Authorities should
release Saleh immediately and stop harassing him.”

In his
letter, Saleh also said that the NISS demanded he come into the office
every day for interviews. He said he balked when some of the scheduled
interrogations never took place. He was arrested today, news reports
said.

In a
separate development, the NISS confiscated the entire print run of the
independent daily Al-Tayar yesterday, according to news reports. It is
unclear why Al-Tayar’s issues were confiscated, but the newspaper has
been targeted in the past, according to CPJ research. In February, the
NISS confiscated its entire print run and suspended the daily on charges
of “jeopardizing national security.”

On April
24, NISS agents confiscated the entire print run of the pro-opposition
weekly Al-Midan,which has also been frequently targeted by the NISS, CPJ
research shows.News accounts reported that the paper ran a cover
picturing displaced people in Darfur, a subject that has been deemed
taboo by the government, according to news reports.

In the
past, authorities in Sudan have censored publications in advance by
dispatching NISS agents to the newsrooms, but are now resorting to a new
strategy in which they confiscate publications after they are printed,
thus forcing newspapers to incur heavy financial losses, CPJ research
shows.

SOURCE

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Nigeria / Daily abuses suffered by Nigeria’s journalists

PARIS,
France, May 7, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Following World
Press Freedom Day on May 3, Reporters Without Borders takes a look at
the breaches of freedom of news and information in Nigeria during the
first quarter of 2012, turning the spotlight on one of the most
dangerous countries in Africa for journalists. For the first time, it
has included the Islamist militia Boko Haram in its latest list of
Predators of Freedom of Information, just published
(http://en.rsf.org/nigeria-boko-haram-02-05-2012,42487.html).

The
press freedom organization outlines all breaches of freedom of
information recorded between 24 December and 24 March. It highlights the
almost daily arrests and assault of journalists and the obstruction of
access to, and distribution of, information, and describes the insidious
atmosphere in which journalists have to carry out their work.

During
the period in question, Reporters Without Borders recorded: the murder
of one journalist, the killing of another with no proof that it was
linked to the victim’s work, nine assaults, seven arrests, three
journalists threatened, four instances of seizure of equipment or
deletion of files, three cases of access to information being cut off,
three court cases against journalists and news organisations, the
closure of a press centre and a media outlet’s premises vandalised.

The
report also covers disturbances in April when there were bomb attacks on
the offices of two newspapers, in Abuja and Kaduna
(http://en.rsf.org/nigeria-government-urged-to-protect-media-27-04-2012,42384.html)

Whether
these abuses – obstruction of information and control of the
government’s image, or gratuitous violence and threats – were carried
out by the government or private organizations using armed groups, they
confirm the authorities’ desire to silence journalists who try to report
on the instability now gripping the country.

Nigeria
embodies a paradox. On the one hand, it is a country where freedom of
news and information is effective so far as the pluralism and vitality
of the media are concerned, and on the other, it has one of Africa’s
worst records for infringements of press freedom and a worrying level of
danger for journalists.

Murder, threats and violence

Since 14
March, when it became known that talks were taking place between Boko
Haram and the government, the freelance journalist Ahmad Salkida has
received several anonymous telephone threats. The reporter, who has
covered the activities of Boko Haram for several years, was accused
among other things of being a member of the Islamist group and of being
the instigator of the talks. He was also told that he and the group “are
not supposed to exist”. The next day, he was followed by a white
Lagos-registered 4×4 for several hours in Abuja.

In July
last year he was forced to move away from the northern city of Maiduguri
after receiving threats from people claiming to belong to Boko Haram.
The threats followed the publication in the magazine Blueprint of an
article he wrote on the Islamist group’s first suicide bomber.

On 11
March, Boko Haram threatened to take action against three newspapers,
National Accord, Vanguard and Tribune, in a tele-conference in
Maiduguri, capital of Borno state. The group said the newspapers
attributed statements to the group which were not made by its members
and showed bias against it in their reports. It said they portrayed the
group in a negative light while praising government forces.

On 9
March, Boko Haram had threatened to “take care of” any journalist that
misrepresented its views in an article. The Nigerian Tribune and
Vanguard Newspapers were among those mentioned specifically by the
group’s spokesman, Abul Qaqa.

On 13
February, six journalists from the New Nigerian, Blueprint, Aminiya,
Voice of Nigeria, Hausa Service and the Nigerian Standard, and a
Nigerian Television Authority cameraman were attacked by a dozen
unidentified assailants in Katami village in the Silame local government
area of Sokoto State, where they were covering the election campaign of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s candidate for the state governorship,
Alhaji Yusha’u Ahmed. The bus in which they were travelling was attacked
by men armed with machetes, knives, cutlasses and sticks.

On 7
February, Akinola Ariyo, a photojournalist for the New Nigerian, was
threatened by an officer who aimed his weapon at him and ordered him to
leave while he was accompanying a group of people trying to negotiate
the reopening of the press centre at Murtala Mohammed airport in Lagos,
closed by the airport authorities in early February.

On 1
February, three security guards assaulted Hassan Adebayo, marketing
executive with the Port Harcourt newspaper Daily Trust and Sani Musa,
the driver of the company’s distribution vehicle, as the pair were
delivering copies of that day’s edition to vendors in the area. The
attackers, in a white Toyota Hilux with the registration number RV 96
AO1, first attacked the driver, who managed to escape, then vandalised
the vehicle, smashing its side mirrors.

On 20
January, Enenche Godwin Akogwu, 31, the Kano correspondent of Channels
TV, was shot dead while trying to cover Boko Haram suicide bombings,
which killed at least 185 people earlier that day. The journalist was
interviewing victims outside the Farm central police station, which was a
target of one of the attacks, when an unidentified gunman fired several
shots at him.

The body
of radio reporter Nansok Silas, who worked for Highland FM, was found
on 19 January in a stream under a bridge on the Zaramagada-Rayfield
road, 200 metres from a military checkpoint, in Jos, northeast of Abuja.
Nothing of value was taken from him and colleagues suspect he was the
victim of a targeted murder, but the cause of death and possible motive
are still unknown.

Originally
from the Langtang North area in Plateau state, he had worked for
Highland FM for three years and hosted a programme called “Highland
Profile”. He had not received any threats. Reporters Without Borders has
called on the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation and to
do their utmost to shed light on his death, and to consider the
possibility that it was linked to his work.

On 3
January, the Kano office of the Daily Trust was invaded by vandals who
tried to smash up the premises and assault staff. Only one person
involved in the failed attempt was arrested. He was charged with
criminal conspiracy, assault, criminal trespass and mischief by fire.

Obstructing access to information and controlling the state’s image

There
was glaring evidence during the first quarter of 2012 of the Nigerian
authorities’ desire to control the country’s image and monitor what the
media publish or broadcast.

The
government demonstrated its resolve to hide the real extent of the
population’s demonstrations of dissatisfaction, as well as the threat
presented by Boko Haram.

It seems
as if the obstruction of access to information, seizures of newspaper
print runs and equipment, as well as threats and lawsuits against
journalists are aimed at allowing the government to play down its own
weakness and the difficulties faced by the country,

On 13
March, police and troops manhandled several journalists covering a visit
to Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, by the first lady, Patience
Jonathan. Dare Fasuba, of The Vanguard, Akinwale Aboluade of The Punch,
Gbenro Adesina of The News/PM NEWS, and Sola Adeyemo of Compass
Newspapers were prevented from entering Lekan Salami Stadium, while
others such as Bisi Oladele of The Nation were beaten when they tried to
exercise their right to cover the event.

A few
days earlier, Jude Obiemenyego, a journalist with the newspaper Zion
Nationale, was arrested by an officer of the State Security Service, for
having exposed a case of corruption involving the ex-wife of the former
government of Delta State. He was arrested in the woman’s office and
threatened with a gun before being taken to police headquarters where he
was held for several days. Since his release, he has received telephone
death threats from unidentified callers.

On 7
March, an unidentified journalist was assaulted by police officers
deployed to break up protests by youths at the Stubb Creek oilfield in
the southern state of Akwa Ibom. The journalist fled to escape further
violence.

On 23
February, Misbahu Bashir, a reporter for the Daily Trust, was refused
access to the headquarters of the Aguryi Ironsi brigade in Abuja and was
forced to stay in his car for three hours by soldiers outside the
building. The journalist was seeking information about the arrest by
brigade troops of 99 passengers travelling in a truck that had been
stopped on the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He said
he was detained after asking to see the brigade commander instead of the
public relations officer, a captain, with whom he had originally
requested a meeting.

The reporter was allowed to leave after he was made to write down his name, address and vehicle registration number.

On 18
February, Iyatse Joshua, of the radio station City FM, was arrested by
Lagos police while he was covering a procession organized by human
rights activists and organizations in remembrance of those killed by
security forces a during the week-long nationwide strike and mass
protest against the abolition in January of fuel subsidies. He and a
number of activists were taken to the offices of the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad. All were released several hours later on the orders
of the chief of police.

On 14
February, Suleiman Isah, a reporter with the Daily Champion, was barred
from entering the Niger State government headquarters by members of the
State Security Service, despite having appropriate accreditation. The
security officers threatened him before he was allowed to leave the
premises.

Earlier,
a Voice of America reporter was manhandled by security men in similar
circumstances outside the Justice Idris Legbo Conference Centre, a few
metres from the government building.

On 13
February, journalists from The Nation, ThisDay, The Punch, The Guardian
and Nigerian Tribune were forced to leave by soldiers posted at the
entrance to a hospital next door to the government headquarters in the
northern city of Kaduna. They were reporting on an attack by some of the
governor’s guards on an information ministry official, whom they
mistook for a member of Boko Haram.

On 9
February, Isa Sa’idu, the Kaduna bureau chief of the Daily Trust, was
threatened by Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar Edun, spokesman of the army’s
First Mechanised Division, for having reported that soldiers had
manhandled journalists trying to cover the bombing of a division
barracks in Kaduna on 7 February. His equipment was seized.

On the
same day at the same location, Umar Uthman a cameraman with the private
station African Independent Television and a colleague from
government-run Katuna State Television both had their cameras
confiscated.

On 7
February, agents of the State Security Service raided the offices of the
Nigerian Television Authority in Abuja in search of video recordings
that showed members of Boko Haram nominated to take part in talks with
the government. The cassettes were taken away by the agents, who said
they were acting on government orders.

On 5
February, the French journalist Jérémie Drieu, a reporter for the
channel TF1, and a local colleague Ahmad Salkida, were arrested by
soldiers in the city of Jos in Plateau State. They were forced to show
all the material they had filmed before being forced to pack and leave
the state at nightfall. They were apprehended when it emerged that a
documentary on which they were working would be critical of the
government.

On 4
February, the press centre at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in
Lagos, opened 30 years ago, was closed by the Nigerian authorities on
the orders of the head of the protocol department attached to the
airport’s presidential wing, Alofabi Oduniyi. He was reported to have
accused journalists accredited to the centre of writing articles that
were negative and prejudicial to the interests of the president. More
than 60 journalists have been prevented from recovering their equipment
locked inside the centre.

Martins
Ayola, general director of the station Adaba FM, which broadcasts in
Ondo State, said there was a price on the head of some of its senior
staff for broadcasting critical programmes and they were being hunted by
contract killers. One of the station’s programmes, “Oja-Oro”, was
ordered off air by the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation for allegedly
trying to turn listeners against the governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

On 1
February, Kayode Akinmade, the commissioner for information and
strategy, launched a petition against the programme that succeeded
“Oja-Oro”, entitled “Ela Oro”, alleging it was broadcasting negative
perceptions of the government.

Also on 1
February, Goke Famadewa, a journalist for The Punch newspaper, was
manhandled by police attached to the Lagos office of Shell Nigeria. The
journalist, who was reporting on a dispute inside the company, was
beaten up for taking photographs of the premises. The police officers
deleted all his photos before releasing him after two hours.

On 25
January, newspaper vendors Okwudili Nnadi, Tochukwu Onuigbo, Ugwu
Stephen and Martha Agbedo – who had her five-month-old baby with her –
were arrested by state police in Nsukka, in Enugu state. All copies of
newspapers in their possession were seized based on the argument that
they stirred up popular unrest because they contained photos of the
victims of Boko Haram attacks. They were released after several hours
but they were unable to recover the confiscated copies.

Again on
25 January, Stanley Mijah, a journalist for The Scope published in
Adamawa State, was indicted by a court in Yola for having in his
possession sensitive articles which, if published, might disturb public
order.

Abdullahi
Adamu Kanoma, a journalist with Zamfara State Radio, was charged with
criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, illegal assembly and
mischief by fire. He was arrested while on his way to the police
headquarters to interview the commissioner after the fuel price protests
of recent months. He was approached by police officers and told his
name was a list of people to be arrested for taking part in the marches.
His trial began on 6 February before the Zamfara State Sharia court.

Problems persist in April, two more suspicious deaths

Before
April ended with the twin newspaper bombings in Abuja and Kaduna, there
were two suspicious deaths of journalists. Reporters Without Borders is
unable to determine whether they were linked to the victims’ work.

On 16
April, Chuks Ogu, a journalist with the station Independent Television,
was shot dead by a gunman who burst into the apartment of a couple whose
wedding he had been filming and opened fire. The circumstances of the
murder are still unclear and it is not know whether the journalist was
the target or simply an innocent victim.

On 3
April, the body of Ibrahim Muhammed, a film editor with the commercial
TV station African Independent Television, was found in a pool of blood
in his apartment in Kaduna. According to his family, he had been
followed home on two occasions by unidentified people. An investigation
was opened on 4 April, but there have been no serious efforts to find
those responsible.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The views expressed in this section are the authors' own. It does not represent The North Bank Evening Standard (TNBES)'s editorial policy. Also, TNBES is not responsible for content on external links.